Governors are alarmed that 10 per cent of the country's doctors are on study leave, saying the staff shortage is hurting health service delivery.
Counties have to hire more doctors on contract to take their place.
Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya reported on Friday that at least 834 doctors countrywide are on study leave.
That's 10.5 per cent of Kenya's estimated 7,894 doctors.
It also has 26,561 nurses, 160 dental officers, 418 pharmacists and 19,000 clinical officers.
Oparanya said the problem has forced counties to balance between training and workforce availability.
“Sustaining this trend with health allocations averaging between 20 to 30 per cent in the current year, increased expenditure is attributed to hiring health workers,” he said.
The details are contained in the CoG 'State of Devolution' report that was released on Friday.
Doctors, nurses and other health workers have gone on strike in recent years, causing serious shortfalls in care and patient suffering.
On June 21, Kisumu doctors went on strike over failure by the county to fulfil the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
They called off their three-day strike on June 25 after they signed a return-to-work agreement.
Oparanya said if UHC is to be achieved, Kenya urgently needs a deeper partnership between the two levels of governments, the private sector and faith-based organisations.
He announced, however, that functional health facilities increased from 9,858 to 10,820 countrywide in 2018.
He said a lot of funds meant for devolved functions in health, agriculture, and water remained in the national ministries, denying counties of the required funds.
“In health, the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority continues to operate as it did before the new constitutional order. The board composition does not reflect devolution despite county governments being the major consumer of their services,” Oparanya said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
